Hockey

I keep hearing experts on the radio and TV calling Olympic hockey a "tournament. " I respect that the majority of players are in the NHL and maybe that is a way to downplay the stage they are on. I think "tournament" minimizes the overall impact of the Olympics and what it truly means for the players to wear the colors of, and represent, their country. Heck, a tournament could mean 16-inch softball while drinking beers on a weekend. This is the Olympics and should be respected for what...

(The Sports Xchange) - The Columbus Blue Jackets signed center Brandon Dubinsky to a six-year contract extension on Friday. According to the Columbus Dispatch, the deal is worth $35.1 million through the 2020-21 season. That is an average of $5.85 million per season. Dubinsky still has one year remaining on a four-year contract he signed with the New York Rangers that pays him $4.65 million for this season. The 28-year-old has 18 goals and 52 assists in 105 games since he was acquired from...

The following items were taken from Buffalo Grove police reports: A disturbance was reported as several people were fighting in front of the stores in the 1100 block of Weiland Road on June 20. The people said they were discussing business and may have been "a little loud. " A hockey net was taken from the front yard of a home in the 800 block of Holly Stone Lane on June 20 or June 21. A vehicle was scratched on the side while the...

Canada's commercial broadcasters held their annual upfront presentations last week to promote their lineups of new U.S. skeins bought at last month's L.A. Screenings, as well as to show off their new domestic shows, but it was clear that scripted programming had already been cross-checked months earlier by Rogers Communications ' landmark deal for rights to National Hockey League games. Rogers, also a major TV service provider, is betting that live-event...

I like to run. Apparently, this gets me high. Last year, researchers at the University of Arizona published a study in the Journal of Experimental Biology examining the "neurobiological rewards" of treadmill running in 10 humans, eight dogs and eight ferrets. No, the researchers were not high when they came up with this study design. For humans and canines, distance running has an evolutionary advantage for chasing down food and running away from things that want to...

There always was music in the car. Lots of Frank Sinatra, Billy Joel and James Taylor, singers who will always remind Blackhawks forward Ben Smith of being with his father, Larry Alan Smith, as they made lengthy drives around New England, sometimes five times a week, so Ben could play and practice hockey with elite teams. And, somewhat surprisingly until you know the rest of this story, the teenager came to love those classic voices - Sinatra and Joel intoning hymns to New York,...

There always was music in the car. Lots of Frank Sinatra, Billy Joel and James Taylor, singers who will always remind Blackhawks forward Ben Smith of being with his father, Larry Alan Smith, as they made lengthy drives around New England, sometimes five times a week, so Ben could play and practice hockey with elite teams. And, somewhat surprisingly until you know the rest of this story, the teenager came to love those classic voices - Sinatra and Joel intoning hymns to New York,...

Hey, look! They finally put a team in Soldier Field worth showing up to watch. That's not a shot at the Bears --- OK, not as cheap a shot as I usually take --- but more off a comment on the difference between football and hockey, and after watching Blackhawks-Penguins on NBC on Saturday night, here it is: Hockey is the best sport to see in person. Football is probably the worst. Hockey is the worst sport to watch on television. Football is the best. The worst place to watch a football game...

BERLIN (Reuters) - Latvian ice hockey player Ralfs Freibergs tested positive at the Sochi Olympics for a banned substance, the International Olympic Committee said on Friday, bringing the total number of positive tests to eight at the Games in February. The 23-year-old tested positive for an anabolic androgenic steroid on Feb 22 after giving a urine sample following their quarter-final defeat to Canada two days earlier. He had his diploma for placing eighth in the men's competition...

A few days out of the year, Michael Cappozzo and his girlfriend, Kate Allan, are sworn enemies. They sit on the couch in their opposing jerseys — he clad in Blackhawks, she sporting Canucks — and yell at the 36-inch flat screen in front of them. But once the rival teams slam the last puck, the couple kiss and make up. After all, had it not been for the fierce Chicago-Vancouver rivalry, they never would have met. Right before last year's playoff series between the teams began,...

Sony Pictures Classics has acquired all North American, Eastern European and Asian rights to "Red Army," on the heels of the sports documentary being tapped for the Cannes Film Festival 's Special Screening Section. The film, directed by Gabe Polsky, centers on the Red Army hockey team from the perspective of its captain Slava Fetisov and his transformation from national hero to political enemy. "We can't wait to present this film to audiences everywhere,"...

LONDON (Reuters) - Move over wooden sticks and grass-green pitches, make way for a slew of changes in technology, rules and equipment, such as video referrals and a new pink-blue surface. This is hockey in the 21st century. Usually perceived as a traditional sport that Britons carried to many colonial corners of the world, hockey has actually pushed its boundaries over past decades, constantly conceiving ways to become faster, safer and easier to watch. London's blue...

When Allan Stone spent $25 on a Chicago Blackhawks charity raffle, he thought that was the last he'd hear of it. Then, one night last month, Stone was watching a Blackhawks game on television when the phone rang. He could see "Blackhawks" on the caller ID. The caller on the other end was Rocky Wirtz. The Blackhawks' owner was calling to let Stone know he'd won an official Blackhawks Stanley Cup ring as part of a raffle put out by the hockey organization in December,...

The population of Hawkeytown is ever expanding and it helps to know the bylaws. You can do that forever with your keepsake reprint of Faker's Guide to Hockey by Steve Rosenbloom and Drew Litton, presented as a 28-inch by 12.5-inch lithograph poster. It's available now at chicagotribune.com/fakersguide . If you prefer a museum-quality photo reprint of the page, you can order that at chicagotribune.com/fakersguideplus . And if you order now, with either version you...

Um, why is hockey still being played? This is June! Summer is approaching! Isn't hockey a winter sport? Shouldn't the season begin in October and last until mid-March? Then the playoffs could begin in late March, and Stanley's Cup or whatever it's called would be awarded no later than the second week of April. Doesn't anyone else think the current situation is absurd? -- Karl Rahder, Naperville, Ill .